dossier as pdf

Transcripción

dossier as pdf
I s r ael M a r t í n e z
Aug us t 2015
BIOGRAPHY
The work of Israel Martínez (Guadalajara, Mexico 1979) reflects about several social topics
through sound, music and their relation to image. He has produced video installations,
site-specific projects, actions, interventions and graphic works through the use of
photography, typing, photocopying and other media. He has also made multi-channel sound
installations and composed a music between electroacoustic and spatiality. Since 2000 he
has taken part in events from several artistic territories, especially in America and Europe. In
2007 he accomplished a Distinction Award of Prix Ars Electronica. In 2012 he was resident at
the DAAD’s Artists-in-Berlin Program, and at Vienna's MuseumsQuartier in 2014. Some of his
works have been acquired by two of the most important collections in Latin America: Jumex
and MUAC/UNAM. His aural work is published and distributed worldwide by labels such as
Sub Rosa, Aagoo, Musica Moderna and Abolipop. Since 2008 he teaches seminars and
workshops on sound art and sound in contemporary art, he has also participated in some
curatorial projects and writes texts intermittently. He's also co-founder of the multimedia
platform Suplex and the music label Abolipop.
www.israelm.com
NO ILLUSION
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2014
16:9, color, audio stereo
3 minutes 6 seconds
Through a series of audiovisual installations “People behaving like true animals”, Israel
Martínez has explored alternatives to articulated language as possible ways of
communication: aural memory, gesticulated mimesis and the deprivation of liberty in
diverse manners. For this third work "No illusion will take away the pain of knowing we are
condemned”, Gerardo Montes de Oca, Mexican student and activist currently residing in
Austria, was invited by Martínez to perform an improvisation in which, through sound, he
would express his emotions for his country. The action took place in Mexikoplatz, Vienna
where a monument stands acknowledging the Mexican government for its official
pronouncement against the Nazi invasion of this city. With this work Martinez forces us to
ask ourselves: when will these policies against the violation of human rights be excercised
in our own country? This work was produced during the artist’s residency at the quartier21
International of the MuseumsQuartier, Vienna in October 2014.
Video: https://vimeo.com/114268657
INSIDE ME
AUDIO, TEXT (TRANSLATION) ON VIDEO.
2014
16:9, b/w, audio stereo
8 minutes 18 seconds
An exercise of memory, recounting personal experiences regarding drugs and drug trafficking in Mexico. The voice
has a modification (pitch down) as a confession or examination by a legal authority or by a media. "Inside me"
points out the link, direct or indirect, that almost every Mexican has with this issue.
Video: https://vimeo.com/114266911
SOUTH OF HEAVEN
In 2006 the ex-president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon,
started a battle against some of the drug cartels,
producing a destabilization in structures of power,
economy, and giving rise to corruption and violence
throughout the whole country. Approximately 70,000
Mexicans have died since then; meanwhile, the US
increases arms sales, controls the movements of the
cartels (classified as terrorist organizations by the US
government), gets invests from drug distribution in
banks and business, and supplies drug consumption.
As a smart strategy, US works from its territory, exerting
its power in Mexico as well as in other countries and
regions around the world.
STALL, BANNER, TEXT ON VIDEO, TWO CHANNELS OF AUDIO STEREO, 100 CD-R. 2014
In collaboration with Diego Martínez
Several dimensions and lengths
Created for the exhibition PCFS-PostColonial Flagship
Store at freiraum quartier21, MuseumsQuartier in
Vienna, this stall (which simulates a common street
stand of pirate products in Mexico) offers CD-Rs
containing an audio work made with sounds from the
Mexican Drug War: shootings, kidnappings, executions,
celebrations and other rituals of “narco”, as well as
demonstrations, crying and mourning. On a monitor we
can read an account of personal experiences with
drugs and “narco”, who reflects on the proximity of any
Mexican to this topic. The only sound we hear openly in
the installation is the inhalation of cocaine, the “axis” of
the current world, according to the persecuted writer
and journalist Roberto Saviano.
RUMORES
TYPING, PERFORMANCE. 2011-2014
14 typed sheets, bond paper 27.9 x 21.6 cm, typewriter
Documentation of several performances
Series of type explorations and transcriptions of fragments from the work of Juan Rulfo, in which the sound is
explicitly present or abstract. The drawings or final texts are the result of long sessions in the studio or live
performances, in which the spatiality of the sound and the literature are key notions. Some performances have
been carried out in public spaces with the aim of giving photocopies of works to any person for free; often the
passers collaborate with their reading.
THOSE WHO SPEAK, THOSE WHO MURMUR, THOSE WHO SHOUT, THOSE WHO CONSPIRE
AND THOSE WHO MOVE AWAY: THOSE WHO HEAR, THOSE WHO INTERPRET, THOSE WHO
SHARE AND THOSE WHO IGNORE. WHAT SOUNDS AND A BIT OF ABSENCE
PERFORMANCE. 2014
Several megaphones and speakers
Variable number of collaborators and equipment
The collaborators form small groups or cells, developing different actions simultaneously throughout the space:
sharing secrets, talking on a noticeable volume, screaming together, or inviting other people to start a
conversation; meanwhile others share information from their speakers. In turn, Martinez and another musician or
sound artist, create another dialogue using field recordings and soundscapes. The performance was held for first
time at MUAC, Mexico City, around the exhibition The Speakers, by Veronica Gerber.
VOCES. SANTA MARIA LA RIBERA
FANZINE, DISTRIBUTION THROUGH “PERIFONEO”,
INTERNET PROJECT. 2014
56 A4 pages, black ink, three thousand copies
PDF and soundscapes for free download
This publication is the result of an exercise of co-participation raised by
Martinez in collaboration with the Fanzinoteca of Museo Universitario
del Chopo and other artists living, working or frequenting the
neighborhood of Santa María la Ribera in Mexico City, from which
Martinez is a neighbor and where the Museum is located. This work is
split into three parts: a publication that could well serve as
neighborhood's fanzine; distribution thereof by loudspeakers in public
space (“perifoneo”); and neighborhood’s soundscapes available via
the Internet. Through Voices, Martinez pays homage to the jobs and
culture of the Ribera.
Publication as PDF, soundscapes by Julio Cárdenas, Mirna Castro, Diego Martínez and Leonardo Santiago,
available via www.abolipop.com l www.suplex.mx
SHOT
FOUR CHANNEL AUDIO, DIGITAL PRINT. 2013
4 minutes 30 seconds
Variable dimension
A torrent of impacts on a wall produced by balls, leaving a somber pattern. In
some racket sports, it is usual, during adolescence, that after having lost a
game, the first loser will be shot, using his racket as unique protection. A ritual
that reflects violence at early ages.
Stereo audio sample:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59646522/Shot-Sample.mp3
CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY
Action made with the support of Diego
Martínez, we rewound fifty tapes from
my archive; they had been stored for
several years. I used an old manual
tape rewinder, while Diego utilized a Bic
Cristal Pen, popular for being used for
this task. The result was overwhelming,
in twenty-one minutes, I was able to
rewind thirty-nine tapes, while he
rewound only eleven.
The kindest technology was not that of
the tape players, nor the tapes
themselves, or even their eventual
competitors such as vinyl and
eventually CDs, but the tools that
allowed us to generate the necessary
conditions to listen to the music in a
fast, cheap and accessible manner.
VIDEO, AUDIO, TAPE REWINDER, BIC CRISTAL PEN, DIGITAL PRINT. 2013
16:9, color, stereo
21 minutes 17 seconds
Variable dimension
CULT RECORDS
Single editions of vinyls were produced
with field recordings that recall a personal
diary, which in phonographic terms has no
aesthetic worth: a show of extreme lucha
libre (professional wrestling), my family at
the beach, or the repair of my house’s
ceiling. The production of a dubplate is
more costly than publishing this format in
editions. This work proposes the interplay
between the abandonment and eventual
fetishization of an object; it uses a currently
trendy format to register worthless
recordings, and spends a considerable
amount of money, since few places print
dubplates (and not one in Mexico).
In the end, a question is launched: who
decides what must be published, or what is
worth being published? I wish everyone
could record his or her daily life in these
‘cult’ formats.
VINYLS (EDITION OF ONE), TURNTABLES, DIGITAL PRINTS. 2013
Variable amount and length
31 x 31 cm (prints)
LLORONA (CRYBABY)
SIGN, MEGAPHONE, AUDIO. 2013
Variable dimension
Continuous loop
Megaphone is a popular tool for the transmission of messages in Mexico. The reproduction of a sign from a
concert of the band Llorona (Crybaby), from Oaxaca, frames the screaming paperboys selling tabloids, which offer
reports of stolen and killed neighbors in a suburb in Guadalajara. The quality of the recordings as well as the
space’s acoustics modify the aural properties of the messages, which resemble a lamentation, alluding to the
Mexican myth of La Llorona, a figure resembling Medea who murdered her own children and is permanent
mourning. Audio: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59646522/Llorona-Sample.mp3
RUIDO (NOISE)
DIGITAL PRINT, LIGHTBOX. 2013
45 x 30 centimeters
Enigmatic building that transmits the sensuality of sound to us via its luminous sign.
EL RUIDO ESE EL SILENCIO (THAT NOISE THERE THE SILENCE)
PROJECTS. 2011 – 2013
Book
2013
Collaboration with Diego Martínez
Brief passages alluding to the sound in the works of William Blake, Mary Shelley, Leon Tolstoy, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hesse and Juan Rulfo, authors who influenced me as an adolescent. I created a new story
by cutting and pasting them. People can read it as descriptions of several soundcapes from different time and space.
EL RUIDO ESE EL SILENCIO (THAT NOISE THERE THE SILENCE)
Vinyl on wall
2013
EL RUIDO ESE EL SILENCIO (THAT NOISE THERE THE SILENCE)
Graphite on wall
2011
IT NEVER HAPPENS
SITE SPECIFIC WORK. 2012
Video 16:9, color, stereo
2 minutes 40 seconds
Piece realized at the White Building gallery while the Paralympics were taking place in London. A television was placed in the gallery,
and it transmitted a pick-up soccer game recorded in Tapalpa (a mountainous area in Jalisco). The television faced the Olympic
Stadium in London, creating parallels between the great marketing spectacle and a truly effective way of wasting time without
producing any sort of economic gain. The sound of the soccer game was blended with the deafening sounds of glee from the
stadium. Video: https://vimeo.com/55432830
SUCCESS
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2012
16:9, color, stereo
20 minutes 39 seconds
Though street musicians are an important part of daily life, giving a city a certain atmosphere, for example, they can also be the basis
for a study about the evolution of music as one of the most powerful entertainment industries in the world, which has led to narrow
marketing and mass promotion channels in which only a few can thrive. At the same time, many musicians go outside in search for
a market, and some of them play as well as professionals; they are self-employed musicians, and in Europe, most of them are
immigrants. The paradox lies in that in spite of representing an alternative, they reproduce a considerable number of patterns and
clichés within the industry. This work is part of a series exploring the work of street musicians, this first work was recorded between
June and September of 2012 in Berlin. Video: https://vimeo.com/55272427
SPEND TIME, WASTE TIME
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2012
16:9, color, stereo
4 minutes 59 seconds
A large number of people are recorded in Berlin while they wait, and the camera’s presence provokes varied reactions. The audio is
made up of an enveloping sonic mass that unites their voices and the soundscape.
Video: https://vimeo.com/53488134
METHODS
MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND AUDIO. 2012
Variable dimensions and length
Work produced while traveling in Mexico and Germany, in which I find a sound that is prominent within a site’s soundscape; the
sound’s sources are then captured in terms of sound and image. Most of the actions that I recorded involve the human body and the
use of tools or machinery. Afterwards, I make a direct analogy between these activities according to the similarities between their
movements, results or consequences, and of course, their sound.
Video: https://vimeo.com/55970494
COUNTERCURRENT
VIDEO, AUDIO, BASE. 2012
Variable dimensions
16:9, color, stereo
6 minutes 17 seconds
A scene rarely seen in a city: a group of surfers in Munich’s downtown struggle against the tide. The unusual angle of this experience
as well as the soundscape’s stridency accent this movement’s odd nature. Video: https://vimeo.com/55525169
DISLOCATION (series)
disrupted by an instant, by scenes that point at an anthropic
presence or, in some cases, by characters that move in and out of
frame in strange sport-like choreographies. We don’t know why a
group of persons is having a picnic while they stand in line; but
when their gaze avoids or confronts the cameraman, the possible
plots that may be imagined add up until they bring a sense of
uneasiness to the situation. These fragments of landscapes are
added to a shifting sound environment made of differentiated
sound scenes that complete the experience as one moves from
one room to the next.
SEVERAL WORKS (2012)
The
recordings in this exhibition seem to leave daily drudgery aside and to bring forth
moments, specific time periods, which make us enquire, contemplate and speculate.
Used to audiovisual experience, we go through the different environments guided by
the disposition of the videos, we watch them and then we slowly discover that the
possibilities of movement, location and perception in relation to the artist’s suggestions
are actually structured by sound. These sound materials have been captured with the
intention of being amalgamated, and they seem to address us from their bond to the
image: on one hand they bring us back to everyday life and, on the other, they generate
uncanny situations. At first, things seem quite comfortable, but then situations are
This selection of works made between 2012 and 2013 in different
places of Mexico and Europe may be considered as an installed
composition, a series of dislocations that departs from the
sketches made by Israel Martínez along with a few collaborations.
We should point at the contrast between his production made
during his residence at the DAAD’s Artists-in-Berlin Program and
the one he did in Mexico before and after this period. The body of
work shown here explores the permanent synchronicity and
dissociation that may be achieved through the dissection and
re-configuration of audio-visual documents, modeling new
materials that address perception and its narrative potential. They
are reflections that suggest a simple activity report or, subtly, a
possible fiction: a continuous displacement between sounds and
pictures.
Fragment of curatorial text by Iván Edeza. Dislocación. MUCA
Roma. Mexico City. November 2013 – January 2014
Mono-channel video sample: https://vimeo.com/133803962
Exhibition’s documentation: https://vimeo.com/86935900
DISLOCATION (series)
Encounter
16:9, color, stereo
2 minutes 37 seconds
Video: https://vimeo.com/56107411
DISLOCATION (series)
And also the trees
16:9, color, stereo
1 minute 45 seconds
Bel Canto
16:9, color, stereo
1 minute 46 seconds
Video: https://vimeo.com/56190820
DISLOCATION (series)
Bailongo
Collaboration with Diego Martínez
16:9, color, stereo
2 minutes 22 seconds
Video: https://vimeo.com/101992220
DISLOCATION (series)
Paraíso
4:3, color, four channel audio
8 minutes 33 seconds
Cello by Iracema de Andrade
DISLOCATION (series)
Oleaje
16:9, color, stereo
3 minutes 13 seconds
Video: https://vimeo.com/56192035
IN MEMORIAM
AUDIO. 2012
Audio stereo
28 minutes 56 seconds
"What we find in so many cases of melancholia is the need to create a new language to talk about the loss".
Darian Leader, The New Black: Mourning, Melancholia and Depression, Hamish Hamilton, 2008.
In 2011, I visited Jardines del Humaya, an extravagant cemetery in Culiacán, Mexico, in which the dead are buried
inside ostentatious buildings. Beyond the fascinating architecture and the silence, at times interrupted by the
workers who dug or built tombs, I focused on elegies, epitaphs and other messages that allow the living to
communicate with the dead, and vice versa, since some of the phrases were formulated as if the dead were
speaking.
IN MEMORIAM
Some of these messages, printed in eccentric
signs not seen in any other cemetery, were
discreetly recorded by using my voice, avoiding
photographing the signs so as to avoid any
problems with the mobsters that constantly visit
it. Afterwards, in an effort to share the
information in another language and also to lose
my voice’s emotional content, I transcribed the
message in order to translate it digitally, allowing
the computer to speak to the dead, or vice versa,
leaving the translation’s errors as well as the
signs’ grammar mistakes. This synthesized
voice blended with the cemetery’s soundscape,
offering us the experience of walking through a
mausoleum and finding the signs, transmitted
via sound. The first part of this project was
presented in the exhibit Fragmented, at
London’s The Tin Tabernacle, in June 2012.
After the exhibit in London, I invited some experimental musicians whose work I respect and has inspired me to
send me some sounds or music in order to create a new sound work, fusing the first part of the project with their
contributions. This piece is available at www.suplex.mx to allow people to listen to it with their portable audio
players, recreating the experience of walking through the Jardines del Humaya and using the Internet and mp3 as
platforms for the transmission. In Memorian can in fact be a site-specific work with the collaboration of the listener
if it is played at a park or even at a cemetery. Posters and postcards for exhibits and symposia on violence have
been made as an extension of the work.
Guest artists: Álvaro Ruiz, BJ Nilsen, Francisco López, Huixtralizer, Iris Garrelfs, Janek Schaefer, Lumen lab,
Manrico Montero, Murcof, Nicolas Wiese, Phillippe Petit, Rogelio Sosa and Simon Whetham.
MARTES DE GLAMOUR (GLAMOUR TUESDAYS)
MEGAPHONES, AUDIO. 2012
Variable dimensions
Audio loop
Sound emitted by the trumpet-speakers evokes a furious crowd that seems to be at a political protest. The recordings were realized
during wrestling (lucha libre) matches at the Arena Coliseo in Guadalajara. These events are known as Glamour Tuesdays, during
which the entertainment includes classist, sexist and other types of insults.
Audio sample: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59646522/Glamour-Sample.mp3
DIALOGUE
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2012
16:9, color, stereo
8 minutes 27 seconds
In Dialogue, Martinez selected fragments recorded in different conferences in 2011 of the Mexican writers Sergio González
Rodríguez, Leonardo Da Jandra and Élmer Mendoza. These writers touched upon themes such as crime, violence, drug traffic and
the war against it, the use of public resources to enrich the political class, the lack of citizen action and other socio-political topics
related to Mexico.
These ideas are accompanied by video sequences taken at several highways, which Martínez recorded focusing on abandoned or
unused buildings, ‘sculptures’ that resist time. Video: https://vimeo.com/41632027
DEPRIVATION REHEARSAL
AUDIO. 2012
Audio stereo, translation on video
1 minute 37 seconds
A six-year-old boy recreates a policeman’s attempt to arrest Martínez, which occurred several years ago; he was recording sound in
a park and was about to be detained, accused of robbery and drug possession. This ironic work reminds us of events such as the
exhibit “La Gran Fuerza de México (Mexico’s Great Strength)”, which traveled to several children museums in this country, and in
which children received their first training and were indoctrinated to admire the militia and clarify who the “bad guys” are with respect
to the drug war.
Why not train children to learn how to behave near policemen, who will stop them constantly once they enter adolescence?
Video: https://vimeo.com/38178644
SURROUNDED
After some events that require extensive
vigilance, as in London during the Olympic
Games, or in Guadalajara after the assassination
of a drug lord, police forces often continue this
routine for a while, taking advantage of this in
order to implement new measures to control the
population:
AUDIO INTERVENTION. 2012
Variable channels
Audio loop
Audio sample: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59646522/Surrounded-Sample.mp3
On 29 July 2010, the Mexican militia killed one of
the country’s most powerful drug lords, “Nacho”
Coronel. Several hours later, the President visited
Expo Guadalajara, an important convention
center. I used to live nearby, and we were held
under a state of siege for several hours, cornered
by military and police forces. This was not the
worst part, since from then on, several times a
day for the next months, helicopters patrolled the
area, thus modifying the soundscape and placing
citizens under direct surveillance.
During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the
police increased surveillance in the downtown
area by using helicopters. I realized months later
that this continued, despite the residents’
complaints.
Soundscapes suffer radical changes due to
socio-political events. Listening tells us about our
context. This work includes sounds of helicopters
captured during both events.
SUNDAY
SECURITY TAPE, VIDEO, AUDIO. 2012
Variable dimensions
Video 16:9, color, stereo
1 minute 51 seconds
Installation that shows a video in which Martínez captured the result of a score-settling in Guadalajara, during a sunny, music-filled
day among people living near the crime scene. Martínez has added an extra layer of audio to the scene’s sound, highlighting the
possibility of it being fictional and analyzing the citizens’ reactions to these events, which ranged from terror to disinterest. A tape to
keep people from entering crime scenes is used to recreate the artist’s position as he recorded, similar to mass media strategies,
which have made scenes such as this part of our daily lives.
Video: https://vimeo.com/38178101
PEOPLE BEHAVING AS REAL ANIMALS II
CHAIRS, BANDANAS, TELEVISION, VIDEO, AUDIO. 2012
Variable dimensions
Video 4:3, color, stereo
10 minutes 58 seconds
Two dozen students were taped individually while improvising nature sounds or creating a hypothetical soundscape. These
improvisations invite us to reflect on communication beyond language. The participants’ eyes have been covered so they can
concentrate in the sound they emit, with no visual distractions. Additionally, this aesthetic alludes to the kidnapping, a common
practice of crime in Mexico, as well as a metaphor about the limits of communication in our societies.
Video: https://vimeo.com/31207909
TOILETTE PIECES
TYPED AND PHOTOCOPIED PRINTOUTS. 2012
Photocopying and typing were daily activities for every student that is more than thirty years old. For Martínez, it was a way to
communicate by collaborating with several music and underground culture fanzines in Mexico during the mid-90s. After taking images
of iconic musicians he admires or was influenced by from the Internet, Martínez typed titles, lyrics and ideas related to these figures,
modifying them sarcastically and in relation to the context in which they would be placed after photocopying the “new originals.”
GANG
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2011
16:9, color, stereo
5 minutes 59 seconds
Sound intervention of a sculpture by Helen Escobedo at Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City.
Walking around the city with a group of collaborators, we found unused or abandoned places and made improvisation sessions there,
which I documented with the intent of generating a reflect about communication through the noise (contrary to the communication
thesis). It was thus that we found this sculpture by Helen Escobedo at the Sculptural Space of Autonomous National University of
Mexico, a true place for wandering. Video: https://vimeo.com/31171865
RESISTANCE
DIGITAL PRINTS. 2011
12 prints, 60 x 45 centimeters
Photographic essay about people in transit or resting in public spaces in Mexico. They have decided to block the influx of sounds by
isolating themselves with headphones, avoiding public interaction and creating a parallel context to lessen time and distance.
Martínez took the photos by going from his house to downtown Guadalajara one morning. The plan was to witness the lack of interest
in forging relationships with other people, using music as a hiding place or shield.
EL CERRO DEL TESORO
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2008 – 2011
4:3, b/w, stereo
30 minutes 24 seconds
In 2008, Martínez went to record at the Cerro del Tesoro, a hill in Zapopan where he experienced important events during his
childhood and adolescence; most of it had been destroyed to build the Santuario de los Mártires, a church funded by Guadalajara’s
episcopate.
Martínez began to explore the place by trying to get to the area where the machinery was, narrating never ending stories about it. As
he analyzes how to take this work to other countries, Martínez thought of subtitles, projected via video, which led to the idea of
presenting this work as a documentary without visuals that lasts thirty seconds.
This piece has been screened both as a scheduled film and in a gallery-museum setting as a loop. Most of the spectators wait for the
visuals, which never appear. Video: https://vimeo.com/31212005
TWO ESPRESSOS IN SEPARATE CUPS
MULTICHANNEL AUDIO. 2011
16.2 channels
56 minutes 37 seconds
Considering film as a visual and sonic experience, Martínez proposes an aural event originating from silence and from instants where
sound seems contingent, involuntary, or an accident in contemporary films that have influenced him. “Two espressos in separate
cups” references a film by Jim Jarmush as well as distinguishing between the experience of time and that of poetry. The experience
of cinema, which is composed of vision and sound, is different than the one generated by looking and listening autonomously, just as
drinking two espressos in two separate cups is not the same as drinking a double espresso. The composition originates in cinema and
abandons its referent through digital processes, sound is no longer the representation of the image, but itself.
Curatorial text by Marco Morales. MUAC, Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo
PEOPLE BEHAVING AS REAL ANIMALS
Amateur collaborators were invited to improvise
alongside the artist, the idea was to produce an
audiovisual installation imitating or creating a
hypothetic soundscape. This was a potentially
alternative version of the orthodox conception of
soundscape, in which humans are mostly
passive, only registering what happens around
them. Here, they participate actively by
transforming it. The collaborators were given the
following instructions before acting: 1 Place your
hands behind you, your freedom has been
limited. 2 Free your hands and body by using an
energetic gesture. 3 For as long as you like,
improvise, explore the silence, imitate nature,
create potential soundscapes. 4 End in silence
with your hands behind you, your temporary
freedom has ended.
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2011
16:9, color, stereo
10 minutes 9 seconds
The work offers a playful approach to music and
chance, as well as the possibility of studying
communication beyond spoken language. Their
eyes are covered, first of all, to allow them to
concentrate on the sounds emitted by others;
secondly, because the work’s aesthetic and its
secondary purpose allude to the history of loss of
liberty in Mexican society due to socio-political
events. Kidnapping, when it is not corporeal, can
be psychological, and only acting as “animals”
are we noticed by the structures of power and by
our own community.
Video: https://vimeo.com/20418760
WHILE I WALK
AUDIO, DIGITAL PRINT. 2010
Audio stereo
Variable dimensions and length
Field recordings of Alameda Central (captured in 2010), the main square in Mexico City’s downtown. The recorder was placed on the
spine of a suitcase as symbol of a constant traveler. These sounds don’t exist anymore in this place because a radical change in the
square due to a gentrification process in the capital of Mexico.
EPIDERMIS 2
DIGITAL PRINT, VIDEO, AUDIO. 2010
Print 50 x 80 centimeters
Video 16:9, b/n, stereo
2 minutes 58 seconds
Ink on the skin establishes a relationship among those with tattoos, a certain complicity. After this video and audio performance in
which two siblings are tattooed, him with the word Silence, her, Noise, they have restate their link, not only in terms of blood, but due
to the ink and its message: beyond noise, or silence, simply sound. https://vimeo.com/20419003
(SCORE)
DIGITAL PRINT, VIDEO, AUDIO. 2009
Print variable dimension
Video 4:3, color, stereo
4 minutes 12 seconds
Action in which the arm is tattooed with a
phrase that repeats itself: silence is noise
silence is noise silence is noise silence is
noise ... The audio is altered slightly, almost
imperceptibly.
If noise is only sound that is unrecognizable
or unpleasant, and sound still exists within
silence, is noise silence? Is silence noise? In
Rulfo’s writing, for example, we can meet
the noises that make up silence.
Video: https://vimeo.com/20419048
Intervention at a public space.
Breda, Holland. Interference Festival, 2012
CONCERT BY THE DEAD FOR THE LIVING
CRASHED CARS, MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND AUDIO. 2009
5 crashed cars, 2 videos 4:3, color, without audio
Audio stereo on 4 speakers
Different length
Four wrecked cars are placed in a public space, each of them has a speaker that reproduces a composition using vehicle sounds. In
an extra car, two televisions show a video of the recycling of the cars (with the collaboration of Salvador Ricalde), and on the other
hand, an action realized while installing the work, in which a professional cleaning squad washes and waxes the cars, as if performing
an act of purification for these dead artifacts that will return to life through sound. A sarcastic expression about cars as cult objects in
societies such as Mexico. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRV0Vc0i1XE
EPIDERMIS
PERFORMANCE. 2007 - 2008
The sound emitted during tattooing was processed, the skin’s transformation was projected in detail.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeGpvus4enM
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2M_Qcy9wzw
PIECE IN THREE MOVEMENTS TO SHARE WITH STRANGERS OR FRIENDS ON A RIDE AROUND THE METROPOLIS
VIDEO, AUDIO. 2007
4:3, color, stereo
6 minutes 43 seconds
Documentation of a sound work created to be listened to inside a car while riding a pre-established route in downtown Mexico City.
The piece alludes to collective memory, to the relation of the vehicle with public space, to privacy, and other psycho-social topics
related to human beings and their private means of transportation.
Video: https://vimeo.com/20419100
MI VIDA (MY LIFE)
AUDIO. 2006
Audio stereo
7 minutes 6 seconds
Work composed with sounds of cars that narrate in a non-linear way a trip, which ends in an accident. Aural reflection about the
dependence on cars in countries like Mexico.
Award of distinction, Prix Ars Electronica 2007, Digital Music category.
“'Mi vida' is the vivid antithesis to Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn', depicting a car journey which ends in disaster in non-linear narrative form,
commencing with the turn of ignition key, followed immediately by the sound of a calamitous smash, then exploring all points in
between. It's as much Martínez's editing skills as the concept that make the piece”.
The Wire Magazine, September 2008
26 CLASSICS IN 1
MODIFIED PIRATE CD - PERFORMANCE. 2006 –
A pirate CD bought inside Mexico City’s subway system was intervened to generate one hit that includes its 26 tracks. How? By
playing all of them at the same time. A sarcastic work about sensationalism in music and popular culture as well as a reflection on the
importance of piracy in countries such as Mexico. Afterwards performances were done at Ex Teresa Arte Actual and at Analco, a
neighborhood in Guadalajara, by pretending to be a DJ who played popular music from the seventies; sounds were altered by doing
a noise improvisation and finally unfolding the sounds in the same romantic versions. This performance is still done, but other people
serve as the DJ, allowing them to execute the work without seeing Martínez, as well as using a sequence of processed videos stolen
from the Internet in which group dances of danzón, a Cuban dance which flourished in Mexico, are seen.
Performance at Barrio de Analco, Guadalajara, 2008.
Performance at Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara, 2013.
Performance at Doña Pancha Festival, Tecate, BCN, 2014.
There is no such thing as silence, get thee to a toilette and hear there thy digestive system in operation and hear there thy
farts in circulation.
Modification of the famous phrase by John Cage about anechoic camera at a W.C. door.
CURRICULUM
Israel Martínez
Guadalajara, Mexico.1979
Lives and works in Mexico City
International awards and residences
Artists-in-Residence 2014. MuseumsQuartier. Vienna
DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm 2012. Germany
Distinction award. Prix Ars Electronica 2007. Linz, Austria
Mexican awards
Proyecta 2014. Secretaría de Cultura Jalisco. 2014
Jóvenes Creadores. Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. 2013 - 2014
Jóvenes Creadores. Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. 2011 - 2012
Jóvenes Creadores. Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes. 2004 - 2005
Solo exhibitions
Dos expresos en dos tazas separadas. Casa del Lago (Espacio sonoro). Mexico City. 2015
Ningula ilusión. Artere-A. Guadalajara, Mexico. 2015
No illusion will take away the pain of knowing we are condemned. Talcual gallery. Mexico City. 2014 - 2015
Schizophonia. Centro de Cultura Digital. Mexico City. 2013 - 2014
Dislocación. MUCA Roma. Mexico City 2013 - 2014
El ruido ese, el silencio. Fonoteca Nacional. Mexico City 2013
Flânerie. Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano. Guadalajara, Mexico 2013
Spend time, waste time. daadgalerie. Berlin 2012 - 2013
Surrounded. The Tin Tabernacle. London 2012
Private, public and some impositions. Quiet Cue. Berlin 2012
Acorralado (Surrounded).Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City 2012
Acorralado. Laboratorio Sensorial. Guadalajara, Mexico 2012
Rumor Murmullo Estruendo. Lap_Az. Guadalajara, Mexico 2011
Two espressos in separate cups. MUAC (Sound Experimentation Space). Mexico City 2011
silencio es ruido es silencio es ruido es silencio es… Casa Serrano. Lagos de Moreno, Mexico 2010
Concierto de muertos para vivos. Plaza El Santuario. Guadalajara, Mexico 2009
CURRICULUM
Group exhibitions (selection)
Rumorosa: Sinuosidad visual y auditiva en el paisaje. Tal Cual Gallery. Mexico City 2015
It is 3 minutes to midnight / Aesthetic insurgency. Ground:zero, transcuratorial art laboratory. Vienna 2015
La múltiple lucha. Galerie IG Bildende Kunst, VBKÖ. Vienna. 2015
El derrumbe de la estatua: hacia una crítica del arte público (1952-2014). MUAC. Mexico City. 2014 – 2015
Transcripciones. Museo Universitario del Chopo. Mexico City 2014 – 2015
PCFS: Post-Colonial Flagship Store. freiraum quarter21 INTERNATIONAL / MuseumsQuartier. Vienna 2014
Border / Bridges. Neu West Berlin. Berlin 2014
Creación en movimiento. Museo de Arte San Pedro. Puebla, Mexico 2014
Sonoplastia. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico 2014
Eros_ional. Ex Convento del Carmen. Guadalajara, Mexico 2014
Sonorama. Museo Universitario Del Chopo. Mexico City 2013 – 2014
5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. 2013
Urban sounds. Haus für elektronische Künste. Basel, Switzerland 2013
Estudio Abierto 1, apéndice. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico 2013
Tinnitus y Fosfenos. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico 2013
Sound Development City. Annex / Manesse. Zurich 2012
Sound Development City. The White Building. London 2012
Sound Development City. The Wye. Berlin 2012
Fragmented. The Tin Tabernacle. London 2012
La Quebradora. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. San Francisco, USA 2012
Densidad. Galería Metropolitana. Mexico City 2012
Interference. Public space. Breda, Holland 2011
Paisaje anticipado. Museo Raúl Anguiano. Guadalajara, Mexico 2011
Trayectorias aleatorias. Ancienne école des vétérinaires. Brussels 2010
Constante, la Nueva Babilonia. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico 2010
Así es, ahora es ahora. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City 2010
Poli_foneo. Museo de la Ciudad. Guadalajara, Mexico 2010
Muestra Internacional de Arte Sonoro. Ex Teresa Arte Actual. Mexico City 2007
Bienal de Artes Electrónicas y Video Transitio MX 02. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City 2007
Ars Electronica 2007. Kunstuniversität. Linz, Austria 2007
Chroma. Centro de Arte Audiovisual. Guadalajara, Mexico 2004
CURRICULUM
Collections
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) / UNAM
Colección Júmex
Discography (selection)
Terra Incognita (with KK Null and Lumen lab). Aagoo 2014
Incognita (with KK Null and Lumen lab). Aagoo 2014
The minutes. Aagoo 2013
Nadaanda. Musica Moderna 2012
Two espressos in separate cups. Aagoo & Sub Rosa 2012
El hombre que se sofoca. Sub Rosa 2011
Triptych (with Luis Felipe Ortega). Aagoo 2010
Nareah. Aagoo 2009
Exorzicios. Abolipop 2008
Los Demonios de la Lengua. Umor Rex 2006
Cubensis. Filtro 2005
Compilations (selection)
Antibothis Vol. 4. Antibothis 2012
Below The Radar. The Wire Magazine 2012
Ruleta. Abolipop – Suplex 2011
Wire Tapper 24. The Wire Magazine 2010
An anthology of noise and electronic music Vol. 6. Sub Rosa 2010
(ready) Media: hacia una arqueología de los medios y la invención en México. Laboratorio Arte Alameda 2010
México Electroacústico. Pocos Cocodrilos / Irradia 2008
Prix Ars Electronica 2007. Hatje Cantz 2007
Transformaciones. Abolipop 2004
Mínimas Texturas 09. Discos Konfort 2004
Bibliography (selection)
Nada volverá a ser igual. Crónica de la escena hardcore-punk jalisciense hasta mediados de los noventa. Suplex 2015
Sonorama. Arte y Tecnología del Hi-Fi al MP3. Museo Universitario del Chopo / UNAM 2015
El derrumbe de la estatua: hacia una crítica del arte público (1952-2014). MUAC/UNAM 2014
PCFS. Post Colonial Flagship Store Vienna. MuseumsQuartier 2014
MUCA Roma, Memorias 2009-2013. UNAM 2014
Blickwechsel Zwei. 50 Jahre Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD. Die Jahre 1988 - 2013
(ready) Media: hacia una arqueología de los medios y la invención en México. Laboratorio Arte Alameda 2013
Vagancia. Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano / Suplex 2013
Todos los cauces el cauce. Memoria de artes visuales 2010 – 2013. Universidad Autonóma Metropolitana 2013
Summer Expeditions: Berlin, London and Zurich. Sound Development 2012
Interference: Schaduwspel, ontketening, confrontatie. IDFX 2012
Lugar_Cero. Reflexión polifónica sobre el arte y la ciudad. Casa Vecina 2012
Así es, ahora es ahora. Laboratorio Arte Alameda 2010
Festival Internacional de Artes Electrónicas y Video Transitio_MX 02, Fronteras Nómadas. Centro Nacional de las Artes 2010
Prix Ars Electronica 2007. Hatje Cantz 2007
CURRICULUM
Selection of live performances – concerts – actions – events
Dos expresos en dos tazas separadas. Casa del Lago (Espacio sonoro). Mexico City. June 2015
Doña Pancha Festival. Guadalajara, Mexico. June 2015
Umbral. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca & El Huacal. Oaxaca, Mexico. May 2015
Exorcizios. Multichannel concert and performance. Instituto de Estudios Culturales UABC. Mexicali, Mexico. March 2015
Ningún espejismo eliminará el dolor de sabernos condenados. Concert and performance. Talcual Mexico City. January 2015
Mikromusik Festival. Villa Elisabeth. Berlin. September 2014
Los que hablan, los que murmuran, los que gritan… Performance. MUAC. Mexico City. August 2014
Schizophonia y otras dislocaciones. Aural intervention + video. Teatro Degollado. Festival Cultural de Mayo. Guadalajara, Mexico. May 2014
Schizophonia. Multichannel concert. Centro de Cultural Digital. Mexico City. March 2014
Enclave Festival, Poéticas Sonoras. Palacio de Minería and Ex Teresa Arte Actual. Mexico City. February 2014
+2 dB. Museo Universitario del Chopo. Mexico City. February 2014
Contra el escenario. MUCA Roma. Mexico City. January 2014
Doña Pancha Festival. Tecate, BCN. January 2014
Rumores. Laboratorio Sensorial. Guadalajara, Mexico. December 2013
Los Minutos. Museo de Arte Moderno. Mexico City. November 2013
26 Clásicos en 1. Ex Convento del Carmen. Guadalajara, Mexico. November 2013
Bodas Negras. Panteón de Belén. Guadalajara, Mexico. August 2013
Reflexiones. Cuadrante Creativo. Culiacán, Mexico. February 2013
Sprawl concert. Cafe Oto. London. November 2012
Tsonami Festival. Valparaíso, Chile. November 2012
Festival Internacional de Videoarte. Buenos Aires. November 2012
eXperimontag. Madame Claude. Berlin. September 2012
Miscelánea inaudita. Sala Mateo Herrera. León, Mexico. September 2012
Unflux Festival. Casa Museo López Portillo. Guadalajara, Mexico. September 2012
Quiet Cue. Berlin. July 2012
DAAD-Porträtkonzert. Villa Elisabeth. Berlin, Germany, June 2012
Sub Rosa showcase. Laboratorio Sensorial. Guadalajara, Mexico. May 2012
Son de Cine. Guadalajara’s International Film Festival. Foro Expo. Guadalajara, Mexico. March 2012
Sonora. Acousmatic Concert. Sonic Arts Research Center. Belfast, Northern Ireland. February 2012
Multi-channel concert. Fonoteca Nacional. Mexico City. February 2012
International Field Recording Meeting. Laboratorio Sensorial. Guadalajara, Mexico. February 2012
Acousmatica II. Helsinki Music Centre, Black Box. Helsinki, Finland. October 2011
Multi-channel concert. Jardín Botánico. Culiacán, Mexico. October 2011
Multi-channel concert. Casa Vallarta. Guadalajara, Mexico. August 2011
4º Ciclo de Compositores Jaliscienses. Ex Convento del Carmen. Guadalajara, Mexico. July 2011
Festival de Mayo. Plaza Liberación. Guadalajara, Mexico. May 2011
Multi-channel concert. MUAC. Mexico City. May 2011
Exorcizios. Casa Sociacusia – Laboratorio Sensorial. Guadalajara, Mexico. January 2011
Intimo (diario sonoro de viajero). Lugar_Cero / Hostal Regina. Mexico City. November 2010
Entrecruce, presentation of commissioned work. Festival Visiones Sonoras. UNAM Campus Morelia. Morelia, Mexico. November 2010
Tríptico y anexos. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City. October 2010
Aún sin título. Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras. Morelia, Mexico. September 2010
Festival Transónica. Universidad de Guanajuato. Guanajuato, Mexico. August 2010
R.Bis_Umaniko. Laboratorio Arte Variedades. Guadalajara, Mexico. August 2010
Epidermis 2. Museo de la Ciudad. Guadalajara, Mexico. June 2010
Festival de Música Electroacústica Primavera en La Habana. San Francisco de Asís. La Habana, Cuba. March 2010
Jazzersice. Ciclo de intervenciones sonoras. MUAC. Mexico City. November 2009
CURRICULUM
Selection of live performances – concerts – actions – events
INDEX. MUAC. Mexico City. November 2009
Nareah. Release concert. Museo Raúl Anguiano. Guadalajara, México. November 2009
Nareah. Release concert. Fonoteca Nacional. Mexico City. October 2009
Festival Espejos Sonoros. Teatro El Galeón. Mexico City. September 2009
Horizontes Verticales. Escuela Nacional de Música UNAM. Mexico City. August 2009
Radioglobal. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico. July 2009
Nareah. Release concert. AS220. Providence, USA. June 2009
Nareah. Release concert. Bruar Falls. New York, USA. June 2009
CANTE. San Luis Potosí, Mexico. April 2009
Multi-channel concert. Parque del Refugio. Guadalajara, Mexico. February 2009
Fiesta de la Música. Laboratorio Arte Variedades. Guadalajara, Mexico. February 2009
Euskadi Eta Mexikoren Artean Hizketa (Euskadi dialoga con México). Sala Rekalde. Bilbao, Spain. November 2008
Sociacusia. CAM Contemporáneo. Guadalajara, Mexico. November 2008
Festival Monitor Digital. Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara, Mexico. October 2008
Exorcizios. Release concert. Ex Teresa Arte Actual. Mexico City. September 2008
Mandorla / Radioglobal. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City. August 2008
26 Clásicos en 1. San Sebastián Analco. Guadalajara, Mexico. August 2008
Exorcizios. Release concert. Estudio Diana. Guadalajara, Mexico. July 2008
Festival de Mayo. Plaza Liberación. Guadalajara, Mexico. May 2008
Festival Estacionarte. Centro Cultural Tlatelolco. Mexico City. April 2008
Festival Radar. Palacio de Medicina UNAM. Mexico City. April 2008
Hecho en México. Mexican electroacoustic music concert. Wortham Opera Theatre, Texas, USA. April 2008
Sonic Loud. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City. April 2008
Epidermis. F. Bolko. Zapopan, Mexico. February 2008
Festival Visiones Sonoras. Centro Nacional para las Artes. Mexico City. November 2007
Festival Synthese. IMEB. Bourges, France. October 2007
Oscilación II. Estudio Diana. Guadalajara, Mexico. September 2007
Sprawl. The Fleapit. London, UK. September 2007
Ars Electronica Festival. Brucknerhaus. Linz, Austria. September 2007
Abolipop Showcase. NIU Audiovisual Gallery. Barcelona, Spain. July 2007
Abolipop Showcase. Resonance FM. London, UK. June 2007
Abolipop Showcase. Nottinghill Arts Club. London, UK. June 2007
USB Festival. Bogotá, Colombia. May 2006
Khora. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City. August 2004
Paisajes Sonoros. OPA. Guadalajara, Mexico. June 2004
Paisajes Sonoros. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico. February 2004
Inmerso Foro Sonoro. Museo Rufino Tamayo. Mexico City. February 2004
Festival Mínimas Texturas 09. Laboratorio Arte Alameda. Mexico City. January 2004
Festival Mutek GDL. Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Zapopan, Mexico. October 2003
Israel Martínez
[email protected]
00+52 (55) 55479256
www.israelm.com

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